Earnhardt Jr. wins Daytona 500 pole: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole for the Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway with a lap of 186.089 mph for his first Daytona 500 pole and 10th career pole. Earnhardt Jr. is the 36th driver to win the Daytona 500 pole. #24-Gordon will start 2nd, only he and Earnhardt Jr. have secured their exact starting spot. #21-Bayne was 3rd fastest, followed by #27-Menard, #33-Bowyer, #31-Burton, #39-Newman, #5-Martin, #16-Biffle and #14-Stewart. Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon swept the front row for Hendrick Motorsports, the third time HMS has done it. Earnhardt will start from the pole in the first Gatorade Duel and Gordon will start 1st in the 2nd Gatorade Duel. #21-Elliott (17th), #38-Kvapil (20th) and #87-Nemechek (21st) all earned spots in the race as the three fastest drivers among those required to qualify on speed. #32-Terry Labonte will also start the race since he has a past champions provisional to use unless he races his way into one of the two spots available in the Duel he races. With the exception of the front row, the starting lineup will be set by the Gaterade Duel races on Thursday, swcheduled for Thursday, February 17th at 2:00pm/et on SPEED.(2-13-2011)

Qualifying Fast Facts - Daytona 500:
#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Coors Light Pole Award for the Daytona 500 with a lap of 48.364 seconds, 186.089 mph.
This is his 10th pole in 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. His last pole came at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, 2010.
This is his first pole in 23 races at Daytona International Speedway.
This is the third time Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the front row in the Daytona 500 (2003 and 2010).
Jeff Gordon will start second in the Daytona 500, his third front row start in the event. He won the pole in 1999 and started second in 2006.
The last driver to win the Daytona 500 from the pole was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
The last driver to win the Daytona 500 from the second starting position was Dale Jarrett in 1993.(NASCAR Statistics)(2-13-2011)

Coverage of Qualifying for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway is scheduled for Sunday, February 13, 2010 at 1:10pm/et.
TV: FOX - 1:00pm/et
Radio: MRN Radio and Sirius XM Satellite NASCAR Radio, last year this was only on nascar.com
Qualifying Re-Air: none scheduled

Rookie of the Year Candidates:
how fast were they and where do they start:
#92-Brian Keselowski, was slowest 177.581
(X) = needs to race their way in to the race
DNR = Did not race
DNQ = Did not qualify for race

Some Qualifying Notes:
#11-Hamlin came off pit road, the front wheels locked up and slid thru the grass, Hamlin said the steering locked up and went to the left, but he was able to get out and run his two laps. Hamlin's team changed the engine before qualifying, so Hamlin will start at the rear of the field in the Gatorade Duel.

# Rookie of the Year Contender
a driver/car# in RED is a go-or-go-homer and had to qualify by speed to make the race
a driver/car# in BLUE is a go-or-go-homer and is a past series champion, eligible to use a past champ provisional

(A) = wrecked in practice and will fall to the rear of the field before the start of the race
PC = Past Champion Provisional used
DNQ = Did not qualify
SPD = made race by qualifying speed

Qualifying is OVER

QUALIFYING RESULTS by SPEED

Qualifying after 48 of 48 drivers:

Pos

SchedQual Pos

ActualQual Pos

Car#

Driver

Manu

Qual Speed(mph)

Qual Time(seconds)

Last Practice Speed

PracticeRank

DifferenceQual vs Prac(mph)

2010 OwnersPoints Rank

1

27

27

88

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Chevy

186.089

48.364

184.302

9

1.787

20-IN-POLE

2

22

22

24

Jeff Gordon

Chevy

185.966

48.396

184.615

6

1.351

9-IN-2nd

3

26

26

21

Trevor Bayne

Ford

185.445

48.532

184.763

4

0.682

28

4

17

17

27

Paul Menard

Chevy

185.422

48.538

184.699

5

0.723

35

5

5

5

33

Clint Bowyer

Chevy

185.223

48.590

184.543

7

0.680

10

6

28

28

31

Jeff Burton

Chevy

185.071

48.630

184.763

3

0.308

12

7

8

8

39

Ryan Newman

Chevy

185.002

48.648

184.173

13

0.829

15

8

6

6

5

Mark Martin

Chevy

184.991

48.651

185.311

1

-0.320

13

9

7

7

14

Tony Stewart

Chevy

184.911

48.672

184.264

11

0.647

7

10

21

21

16

Greg Biffle

Ford

184.911

48.672

184.422

8

0.489

6

11

32

32

22

Kurt Busch

Dodge

184.896

48.676

183.539

18

1.357

11

12

18

18

42

Juan Pablo Montoya

Chevy

184.763

48.711

183.846

16

0.917

17

13

23

23

9

Marcos Ambrose

Ford

184.748

48.715

183.685

17

1.063

21

14

13

13

29

Kevin Harvick

Chevy

184.740

48.717

183.940

14

0.800

3

15

31

31

48

Jimmie Johnson

Chevy

184.687

48.731

184.991

2

-0.304

1

16

25

25

6

David Ragan

Ford

184.612

48.751

183.850

15

0.762

24

17

42

41

09

Bill Elliott [PC2]

Chevy

184.532

48.772

184.188

12

0.344

39-IN-SPEED

18

30

30

99

Carl Edwards

Ford

184.475

48.787

183.520

19

0.955

4

19

24

24

43

A J Allmendinger

Ford

184.290

48.836

182.563

30

1.727

19

20

44

43

38

Travis Kvapil

Ford

184.271

48.841

183.150

25

1.121

36-IN-SPEED

21

41

40

87

Joe Nemechek

Toyota

184.222

48.854

182.301

34

1.921

41-IN-SPEED

22

4

4

17

Matt Kenseth

Ford

184.102

48.886

184.268

10

-0.166

5

23

29

29

00

David Reutimann

Toyota

184.019

48.908

182.741

28

1.278

18

24

1

1

2

Brad Keselowski

Dodge

184.008

48.911

183.311

21

0.697

26

25

39

38

15

Michael Waltrip

Toyota

183.966

48.922

183.228

23

0.738

53

26

37

36

36

Dave Blaney

Chevy

183.793

48.968

183.482

20

0.311

40

27

14

16

1

Jamie McMurray

Chevy

183.685

48.997

181.225

41

2.460

14

28

20

20

78

Regan Smith

Chevy

183.681

48.998

182.400

33

1.281

29

29

10

10

4

Kasey Kahne

Toyota

183.602

49.019

182.656

29

0.946

31

30

3

3

18

Kyle Busch

Toyota

183.595

49.021

183.243

22

0.352

8

31

2

2

47

Bobby Labonte

Toyota

183.576

49.026

182.500

31

1.076

27

32

12

12

83

Brian Vickers

Toyota

183.557

49.031

182.953

26

0.604

25

33

34

34

56

Martin Truex Jr.

Chevy

183.456

49.058

182.124

35

1.332

22

34

15

14

20

Joey Logano

Toyota

183.206

49.125

183.161

24

0.045

16

35

43

42

60

Todd Bodine

Toyota

183.057

49.165

181.826

37

1.231

none

36

47

46

97

Kevin Conway

Toyota

182.949

49.194

181.811

38

1.138

56

37

40

39

13

Casey Mears

Toyota

182.867

49.216

182.897

27

-0.030

38

38

16

15

34

David Gilliland

Ford

182.697

49.262

182.463

32

0.234

34

39

9

9

77

Steve Wallace

Toyota

182.574

49.295

181.748

39

0.826

30

40

46

45

66

Michael McDowell

Toyota

182.434

49.333

180.974

44

1.460

44

41

33

33

7

Robby Gordon

Dodge

182.120

49.418

181.273

40

0.847

32

42

48

47

32

Terry Labonte [PC1]

Ford

181.492

49.589

180.346

46

1.146

none-IN-Champ

43

19

19

37

Robert Richardson Jr.

Ford

181.466

49.596

180.792

45

0.674

33

44

35

35

11

Denny Hamlin

Toyota

181.316

49.637

182.072

36

-0.756

2

45

38

37

46

J J Yeley

Chevy

180.977

49.730

181.163

43

-0.186

42

46

11

11

71

Andy Lally

Chevy

180.828

49.771

181.189

42

-0.361

23

47

45

44

64

Derrike Cope

Toyota

177.894

50.592

0.000

x

x

46

48

49

48

92

Brian Keselowski

Dodge

177.581

50.681

176.595

47

0.986

54

x

36

x

57

Norm Benning

Chevy

0.000

0.000

0.000

x

x

63

a GREEN 'IN' means that team/driver have made the race, NOT in the top 35

a RED 'DNQ' means that team/driver will miss the race, NOT in the top 35

Drivers in RED will be required to qualify on time/speed, not in top 35

Drivers in MAROON will be required to qualify on time/speed, not in top 35BUT has a past champions provisional available if needed, only one is used, so if there are two or more past champs
the driver who has won the championship most recently, gets the spot.

# Raybestos Rookie of the Year Contender

What happens if qualifying gets rained out? [very unlikely at Daytona, lots of extra days]If it is the first five races of the season, the previous season OWNERS points are used:

#1) - Previous season Owner Points [position 1-35][top 35 teams do NOT need to attempt ALL the races]
#2) - Race winners from the previous and current season not already in the field
#3) - ALL Past Cup Champions not in by 1 or 2
#4) - Current season Owner Points [Top 35][not in by rules 1-3]
#5) - Current season race attempts ties broken by current owners points standings [not in by rules 1-4]